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Erie trustees adopt urban renewal plan for Old Town, but drop eminent domain after public outcry

Residents sound off on proposed plan in heavily attended meeting at Town Hall

By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
11/12/2013 10:45:16 PM MST

Updated:
11/13/2013 06:53:58 AM MST

ERIE -- A huge crowd turned out at Town Hall on Tuesday night to decry a proposal to establish an urban renewal plan for Old Town, insisting that the matter be left up to a vote of downtown residents.

While the Board of Trustees decided against going to the ballot box and passed the plan, it stripped from it the town's authority to condemn property under eminent domain powers for the purposes of spurring economic development after faced with intense public opposition.

More than 100 people showed up Tuesday, many streaming out the doors of the packed chambers, as the board took up the Historic Old Town Erie Urban Renewal Plan.

The final vote on adopting the plan without the power of eminent domain was 4-2, with Dan Woog attending his first meeting as a trustee of the board.

The plan, which would have given the town the power to condemn property in order to remedy blight, drove many Old Town residents to condemn it as a move that would threaten to strip the century-old historic district of its character and historic charm.

They said a survey that identified blight conditions in Old Town -- including deteriorating buildings, buildings without sprinklers, missing sidewalks, insufficient lighting and location in a floodplain -- was unfair in its characterization of the mostly residential neighborhood.

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James Briars, an Old Town resident, said the determination of blight was a "matter of opinion" and that many of the items cited in the report were mere code violations that could be easily corrected, short of placing the entire neighborhood under an urban renewal plan.

At the center of his argument, and many of those who spoke Tuesday, was a strong dislike for the power of eminent domain that the plan would have given to the town. While all municipalities have the power to condemn property for the purposes of building roads and utilities, an urban renewal authority can further use the power as part of an effort to remedy blight.

Kim Tuck, an Old Town resident, said Erie needed to jettison eminent domain from the plan and put the entire proposal to a vote of the people.

"I think this should be put to a vote of the Old Town citizens -- and get that eminent domain out of the picture entirely," he said.

Autumn Morningstar, who lives in Old Town with her husband, said the prospect of eminent domain is frightening to people "whose home is their big investment in their life." She said Old Town should not be made to look like everywhere else in town.

"This is where Erie sprang from -- you can whitewash it all you want to," she said. "These people whose families have been here for generations don't deserve that."

One resident said if the plan was passed as written that Old Town residents would organize a political campaign to replace trustees in next April's municipal election. Another said the Board of Trustees acting as the Erie Urban Renewal Authority constituted a "conflict of interest."

Mayor Pro Tem Ronda Grassi said urban renewal is a powerful tool, especially when it uses tax increment financing to help funnel additional property and sales tax revenue into the plan area to pay for public improvements.

"I get that blight is an offensive word," Grassi said. "Try not to get worked up about the word blight. Money collected in that area can be used to help improve things, if you so desire."

Mayor Joe Wilson said urban renewal has worked well in other communities, like Writer Square and Larimer Square in Denver. He said he despises the concept of taking property through government fiat, but that the power would only be used as a last resort, if at all.

"It means that you get another tool to work with your property," he said of urban renewal.

Trustee Joe Carnival said urban renewal can raise money that wouldn't otherwise be raised to help preserve buildings that might otherwise get torn down or succumb to age if nothing is done.

"This is the financing mechanism that can help us preserve historic buildings," he said. "The evidence is showing that it will increase property values."

But Trustee Mark Gruber said whatever plan the town ends up pursuing, it needs to directly serve the interests of those living in downtown Erie.

"There's got to be something in it for the folks of Old Town -- not just about economic development," he said.

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